Refrigerating apparatus



Aug. 26, 1941. A. A. KUCHER REFRIGERAT ING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 14, 1937 3 sheets-sheet 1 INVENTOR mfi ATTORNEY 1941- a A. A. KUCHER 2,254,118

REFRIGERAT ING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 14, 1957 3 e s-Sheet 2 BY AM "M '1 ORNEY Aug. 26, 1941. A. A. KUCHER REFRIGERATING APPARATUS I Filed Aug, 14, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I VENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 26, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Andrew A. Kucher, Dayton, Ohio Application August 14, 1937, Serial No. 159,157

16 Claims.

The present invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to the heat absorber element and the cooling compartment.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improved heat absorber or evaporator which is constructed and arranged so as to support a plurality of horizontally spaced ice trays and to arrange the refrigerator controller and a surge tank, for refrigerant, in the space between the ice trays.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved ice tray door and hinge in which the door can 'be swung to open position and in which the hinge construction is such that the entire door is translatably movable to an out of the way position.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a heat a'bsorber which is flat and extends substantially across the refrigerator compartment and adjacent the top to provide a relatively isolated cold compartment for quick freezing purposes.

Other and further objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred form of embodiment of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:v

Fig. 1 isa cross sectional view of the upper part of a refrigerator cabinet, the section being taken on substantially line of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is the front view of the upper part of the refrigerator cabinet showing the door removed.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view, on a large scale, the section being taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view, the section being taken on line 55 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 66 of Fig. 1; and

Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are bottom, front and side views respectively of the evaporator.

Referring to the drawings, the refrigerator cabinet may be the same as that shown in my Patent No. 2,247,949, issued July 1, 1941. The cabinet 20 includes an inner lining 2| and an outer cover 22. The lining 2| and cover 22 are open at the front and are associated with one another by frame members which extend around the periphery of the open front. The front opening of the cabinet is closed by a hinged door 24. Insulating material 25 is interposed between the ity of shelves 2! are supported within the food compartment 28 of the cabinet. A heat absorber 38 is disposed within the upper part of the compartment 28 and includes a flat sheet of metal 3| which extends substantially across the width and throughout the depth of the compartment 28. The heat absorber is herein shown as an evaporator in which a serpentine tube 32 is secured in intimate heat exchange relation, as by solder, to the underside of the plate 3|. Liquid refrigerant from the compressor-condenser unit (not shown) is conducted to one end of the serpentine tube 32 by a tube 33 and-gaseous refrigerant is withdrawn from the opposite end of serpentine tube 32 by a tube 35.

The plate 3| is provided with upwardly extending side flanges 36 and an upwardly extending rear flange 31. Front brackets 39 and rear brackets 40 are connected to the flanges 36 and these brackets extend upwardly and are utilized for supporting the evaporator by the top of lining 2|. A bolt 42 extends through an opening in the lining through a grooved rubber washer 43 and also through a bracket 44. The rubber washer 43 is disposed with its upper surface 43' between the lining and the upper surface of bracket 39 and its lower surface 43 between the lower surface of bracket 39 and upper surface of bracket 44 as may be seen in Fig. 5.

Bracket 44, the washer 43, and bracket 39 are thus secured to the top of the lining 2| when a nut 45 is drawn tightly. The purpose of bracket 44 will be described hereinafter and it is supplied only at the front of the cabinet. The rear brackets 40 are secured in exactly the same manner as brackets 39 except that the bracket 44 is omitted.

The upper surface of the plate 3| provides supports for a plurality of ice trays and the flanges 36 and 31 prevent displacement of the trays.

The front of the plate 3| is formed to provide a recess 41 and the edge of the entire front including the edges bounding the recess 4'! are turned downwardly as at 48 for reenforcing the plate. A controller in the form of an automatic switch 49 for stopping and starting or otherwise controlling the compressor-condenser unit is carried at the front of the evaporator and part thereof extends into the notch 41.

An inverted L shaped bracket 5| is suitably attached as by screws to the top center front of lining 2| and the switch 49 is secured to the vertical leg of bracket 5|. This switch 48 is interposed midway between the ends of the plate inner lining 2| and the outer cover 22. A plural- 3| and preferably two ice trays are supported on each side of the switch. Directly in back of the switch 49 there is provided a surge tank 53. The pipe 35 empties into tank 53 and gaseous refrigerant is withdrawn from the tank and conducted to the low pressure side of the compressor by a pipe 54. This tank 53 is supported by the low pressure conduit including the pipes 35 and 54. Insulating material 54' is disposed between the tank 53 and the plate 3| for preventing ready conduction of heat from the tank to the plate. Tank 53 is arranged longitudinally of the ice trays and directly in the rear of the switch 49 whereby the entire space on the opposite sides of the switch and tank can be utilized for the cooling of the ice trays.

Hinged doors, one of which is shown at 55. cover the front of the ice tray compartments of the evaporator. The upper ends of these doors 55 are hinged on rods 55. The outer ends of these rods 56 are threaded. The inwardly extending ends 5? thereof are inserted into holes 58 of rearwardly extending ears 53 of bracket 5|. The outwardly extending ends of rods 55 extend into the side walls of lining 2| and carry nuts 5|. The rods 56 are first inserted into the holes in the lining 2i and then the ends 51 are inserted into the ears 59. The nuts 5| are then drawn tightly against the lining while holding the rods stationary whereby the rods 58 are secured in position. The tops of the doors 55 are provided with hooks 32 which receive the rods 56 whereby the doors 55 can be swung upwardly. The hooks are open so that the door can be disengaged from the rods 55 and moved rearwardly as shown in Fig. 4. The brackets 84 carried by the bolts 42 extend forwardly and directly below the hook portions 32 of the doors 55 and guide the rearwardly moving doors, that is,

prevent the same from falling. Brackets for the same purpose areprovided at the inner ends of the doors and these brackets are shown at 54 and carried by the downwardly extending rear leg 55 of bracket 5i Thus it is apparent that the doors can be swung about the rods 55 and then can be moved to an out of the way position by merely pushing-the same rearwardly. The lower ends of the doors 55 are bent inwardly as at to provide finger holds by which the door can be pulled forwardly. When a door is pulled forwardly as far as possible the hook 52 will reengage the rods and then the door can fall downwardly in position to cover the front of the evaporator. The side edges of the front of bracket 5| are depressed rearwardly to an extent substantially equal to'the thickness of the door 55 and this depressed portion is indicated at 58. Thus when the doors are closed the fronts thereof lie flush with the extreme front of bracket 5|. The front of the bracket 5| is open and the off and on switch, a cold control" knob 69 and a defrost knob 1| extend through these openings and therefore are accessible from the front of the cabinet when the door 24 is open.

If desirable a drip pan 10 may be slidably and removably supported below the evaporator 30 for catching the drip from the evaporator when defrosting the same. Pen 10, being disposed directly below the evaporator, is normally maintained at a water freezing temperature and therefore can be used as a frozen food compartment.

By extending the evaporator substantially across the entire cabinet as herein shown, substantially all of the air circulating through the food compartment will be cooled by contact with the pan I0 and the lower part of the evaporator and the space between the evaporator and the upper part of the lining is maintained at a relatively cold temperature due to the fact that the air therein is substantially dormant and therefore this space between the evaporator and the upper part of the cabinet provides a quick freezing zone. Freezing is also enhanced because the ice trays rest directly upon the plate 3| which latter is in intimate heat exchange relation with the evaporator tube 32.

It is desirable for efficient operation to maintain vaporizable refrigerant throughout the length of evaporator coil 32 and under certain conditions of operation, for example. after the compressor has operated for a considerable interval, some vaporizable refrigerant will flow into the surge tank 53. The surge tank, being formed of metal and therefore a high conductor of heat, will absorb heat from the air or the material in the adjacent trays and all vaporizable refrigerant entering the same will vaporize before passing to the compressor. The surge tank 53, being disposed within the refrigerated chamber, will prevent the loss of work that can be accomplished by the vaporizable refrigerant which would, without the tank, pass to the compressor and materially reduce the efficiency of the system.

Furthermore, the system is designed so that the coil 32 and tank 53 can hold the entire charge of refrigerant of the system. During the idle period or oil? phase of the compressor, refrigerant will pass from the condenser through tube 33 to the evaporator and thence to the surge tank. At the start of the running period or "on phase" of the compressor the pressure in the evaporator and surge tank will be reduced quickly and vaporized refrigerant will be withdrawn first and quickly from the surge tank 53 and then progressively but quickly the quantity of vaporizable refrigerant is reduced toward the inlet of the evaporator. At this time the increased head pressure induces a flow of condensed refrigerant through the tube .33 to the evaporator.

It is desirable to provide a fast freezing zone or section and in order to accomplish this, all refrigerant is directed progressively from the left side (as viewed in Figs. 3, 7 and 8) to the right side of evaporator coil 32 and also tank 53 is spaced from plate 3|. Tank 53 being warm and spaced from the relatively colder plate 3|, there is no tendency for liquid refrigerant to enter the tank 53 during the on phase, except when the entire coil 32 carries an excessive amount of liquid. After the compressor has withdrawn the major portion of the refrigerant, which entered during the off phase, vaporization of refrigerant occurs at the left hand side of coil 32 and therefore the heat is first taken from the left hand side of plate 3| and the plate is then progressively cooled toward the right. In this manner the left hand side of the plate forms a quick freezing section and under normal conditions the compressor continues to operate until all of the trays of water are frozen, the trays on the left hand side freezing before the trays on the right hand side.

By arranging the switch as herein shown the entire frontof the evaporator compartment is substantially flush and therefore provides a neat appearance and by arranging the surge tank directly in back of the switch 49, the maximum amount of space is available for the reception and storage of ice trays. a

While the form of embodiment of the present invention as: herein discolsed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. Refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a refrigerator cabinet having an inner lining, means providing a refrigerated surface adjacent the top wall of the lining, horizontally spaced ice trays carried. by said surface and below the said top wall, hinged doors at the front of the ice trays, a bracket carried by the said top wall, said bracket forming stops for limiting the movement of the hinged doors, and a refrigerator controller carried by the bracket and disposed between the spaced icetrays.

fi. Refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a refrigerator cabinet having an inner lining, means providing a refrigerated surface adjacent the top wall of the lining, horizontally spaced ice trays carried by said surface and below the said top wall, a bracket carried by the said top wall, hinge members carried by opposite sides of the bracket, doors at the front of the ice trays, said doors being hinged to said hinge members, and a refrigerator controller carried by the bracket and disposed between the spaced ice trays.

3. Refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a refrigerator cabinet having an inner lining, means providing a refrigerated surface adjacent the top wall of the lining, horizontally spaced ice trays carried by said surface and below the said top wall, a bracket carried by the said top wall, rods extending sidewise from opposite sides of the bracket, said rods having the opposite ends thereof carried by the side walls of the lining, doors at the front of the ice trays, said doors being hinged to saidrods, and a refrigerator controller carried by the bracket and disposed between the spaced ice trays.

i. In combination,' an evaporator providing supports for horizontally spaced ice trays, ice

trays carried by the supports, a low pressure conduit for vaporized refrigerant connected with the evaporator, and a surge tank disposed between the ice trays and supported spaced from the plate and forming a part of the conduit.

5. In combination, an evaporator, providing supports for horizontally spaced ice trays, ice trays carried by the supports, alow pressure pipe for vaporized refrigerant connected with the evaporator, a surge tank for receiving the refrigerant from the pipe, a pipe for conducting vaporized refrigerant connected with the evaporator, a surge tank for receiving the refrigerant from the pipe, a pipe for conducting vaporized refrigerant from the'tank, said tank being disposed between the ice trays and supported spaced from the plate.

6. Refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, an evaporator providing supports for horizontally spaced ice trays, ice trays carried by the supports, a refrigerator controller at the front of the evaporator and disposed between the ice trays, a low pressure conduit for vaporized refrigerant connected with the evaporator, said low pressure conduit including a surge tank, said tank being disposed between the ice trays and in back of the controller.

7. In combination with a refrigerator cabinet, means forming a heat absorber and an ice tray compartment; said compartment being open at the front for the insertion and removal of an ice tray; a door for the opening; a controller bracket carried by and extending downwardly from the top wall of the cabinet; a hinge for the door for permitting swinging of the door, said hinge having a stationary part carried by the bracket and a translatably movable part for permitting translatable shifting of the entire door; and means on the bracket for guiding the door when shifting the same.

8. In combination with a refrigerator cabinet, means forming a heat absorber and an ice tray compartment; said compartment being open at the front for the insertion and removal of an ice tray; a controller bracket carried by and extending downwardly from the top wall of the cabinet; a door for the opening; a hinge for the door for permitting swingin of the door, said hinge including a stationary rod carried by the bracket, and an open-sided eye carried by the door, said open-side of the eye being adapted to receive the rod; and means on the bracket for guiding the door when the door is shifted to a position in which the eye is removed from the rod.

9. In combination with a refrigerator cabinet, means forming a heat absorber and an ice tray compartment; said compartment being open at the front for the insertion and removal of. an ice tray; a plurality of doors for closing the opening; a switch bracket between said doors; hinges for the doors, said hinges including rods extending sidewise from Opposite sides of the bracket and a cooperating eye on each of the doors, one of the said elements of the hinge having a translatably movable part for permitting translatable shifting of the respective door; and means on the bracket for guiding the doors when shifting the same.

10. Refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a refrigerator cabinet having a food storage compartment; a heat absorber including a substantially fiat plate, means for conducting liquid refrigerant in intimate heat exchange relation with the plate, said plate being disposed adiacent the interior top wall of the cabinet and cooperating therewith to provide the bottom and top walls of a freezing compartment above the food storage compartment, said plate. extending substantially across and substantially throughout the depth of the entire food storage compartment for substantially isolating the freezing compartment from circulating air within the food storage compartment; a drip pan below the plate, said drip pan extending substantially across and substantially throughout the depth of the food storage compartment for substantially impeding the flow of air between the same and the freezing compartment.

11. Refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a refrigerator cabinet having a lower food storage compartment;- a heat absorber including a substantially flat plate, means for conducting liquid refrigerant in intimate heat exchange relation with a fiat surface of the plate, said plate being disposed adjacent the interior top wall of the cabinet and cooperating therewith to pro ide the bottom and top walls of a freezing compartment, said plate extending substantially across and substantially throughout the depth of the entire top of the food storage compartment; a closure for the front of the freezing compartment, said closure extending from the plate to substantially the interior top wall of the cabinet, a centrally disposed bracket at the front of the freezing compartment, said bracket being carried by the top wall of the cabinet and forming a support for the closure; ice trays carried by the plate on opposite sides of the bracket; and a rearwardly extending controller carried by the bracket.

12. Refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, an exaporator providing supports for horizontally spaced ice trays, ice trays carried by the supports, a refrigerator controller at the front of the evaporator. a low pressure conduit for vaporized refrigerant connected with the evaporator, said low pressure conduit including a surge tank, said-tank being disposed in back of the controller.

13. A refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a refrigerator cabinet having a storage compartment; a heat absorber disposed within the compartment and spaced from an inner wall of the compartment and forming therewith a freezing space open at the front; ice trays in said freezing space and removable from said space through such opening; and means for closing such opening to prevent the escape of air from the freezing space through such opening, said means including a door mounted for pivotal movement and slidable rearwardly between the heat absorber and said inner wall in a plane parallel with said inner wall; hinging means for said door including a stationary part for permitting swinging of the door and including a part on the door disengageable from the stationary part when the door is swung in to the plane parallel with said inner wall.

14. In refrigerating apparatus, in combination with a shelf type evaporator adapted to support ice trays thereon, a vertical plate mounted above and in front of the shelf in front of the ice trays, and means for swinging said plate upwardly and backwardly to a horizontal position .to permit removal of ice trays from said shelf and under said plate. 7

15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14 in which the plate is bodily removable from the refrigerating apparatus.

16. A refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a refrigerator cabinet having a storage compartment, a heat absorber disposed within the compartment and spaced from an inner wall of the compartment and forming therewith a freezing space open at the front, ice trays in said freezing space and removable from said space through such opening, means for closing such opening to prevent the escape of air from the freezing space through such opening, and means mounting said closing means for movement upwardly and rearwardly to a horizontal position between the heat absorber and said inner wall to permit removal of ice trays from said freezing space and under said closure means.

' ANDREW A. KUCHER. 

